Does Mysticism Make Us Closer to God?

Does Mysticism Make Us Closer to God?

Every Christian knows the deep ache of the psalmist: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1–2). This is not merely intellectual assent to doctrine. It is a longing of the heart to draw near to the living God. That longing has driven believers throughout history to seek communion with Him, and it has also given rise to practices that promise intimacy but sometimes drift from Scripture.

The modern world is full of voices promising closeness with God through mystical experience: contemplative techniques, silent retreats stripped of Scripture, practices borrowed from other religions, or methods that place subjective experience above the Word of God. These are often described under the broad umbrella of “mysticism.” The question is urgent: Does mysticism actually make us closer to God?

The short answer is no. Mysticism as commonly practiced does not bring us nearer to God, because only Christ can. However, the desire beneath mysticism—the hunger for communion with the Lord—is not wrong. It is God-given. The danger is in the path we choose to satisfy that hunger.

This article will explore that question in depth by looking at Scripture, Christian history, and the difference between biblical intimacy and mystical experience.

1. Defining Mysticism: What Are We Talking About?

Mysticism is notoriously slippery to define. Broadly, it refers to spiritual practices or beliefs that emphasize direct, personal experience of God beyond doctrine or ordinary means of grace. Often, mysticism elevates subjective encounter over the objective truth of God’s Word.

In church history, certain streams of Christian mysticism sought to cultivate “union with God” through methods such as centering prayer, apophatic theology (seeking God in unknowing), or prolonged silence. In modern times, mysticism often blends with Eastern spirituality, using meditation techniques that aim to empty the mind rather than fill it with God’s truth.

At its best, mysticism expresses a longing for God’s presence. At its worst, it substitutes inner experience for God’s revelation, creating counterfeit intimacy.

2. True Closeness to God: Christ Alone

The New Testament is unambiguous: closeness to God is achieved not by human techniques but by the finished work of Christ. “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). Notice the Trinitarian pattern. Our access to God is not mystical but Christological. We come to the Father through the Son by the Spirit.

Hebrews 10:19–22 declares: “Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus… let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Union with God is not something we achieve through practices. It is a reality accomplished in Christ’s atoning work. By faith, we are united with Him, and through Him, we are brought near.

This means no mystical practice—no silence, breath work, or special state of consciousness—can accomplish what Christ has already secured. True intimacy is not a technique. It is a relationship, grounded in the covenant secured by His blood.

3. The Ordinary Means of Grace

God has not left us groping in the dark for mystical pathways. He has given us clear, ordinary means of grace by which we encounter Him: the Word, prayer, and the sacraments, all in the context of the church.

• The Word of God: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). God draws near to His people as He speaks through Scripture.

• Prayer: Not emptying the mind, but lifting heart and voice to the Father through Christ (Philippians 4:6).

• The Lord’s Supper and Baptism: Tangible signs and seals of God’s promises, where Christ nourishes His people spiritually (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

• The gathered church: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).

Mysticism often despises these ordinary means as too plain, seeking something more immediate or ecstatic. Yet God has bound Himself to these means, promising to meet His people in them. To neglect them for mystical experience is to bypass God’s appointed pathways for communion.

4. The Lure of Mysticism

Why does mysticism appeal to so many? Several reasons stand out:

1. The desire for immediacy: Mysticism promises a shortcut to God, bypassing the “slow” disciplines of Word and prayer.

2. The appeal of experience: In an age that prizes feelings, mystical experience feels more real than the steady walk of faith.

3. Disillusionment with institutions: Some turn to mysticism after frustration with the church, forgetting that Christ gave us the church as His body.

4. Borrowed practices: The rise of mindfulness and Eastern meditation has seeped into Christian spirituality, often uncritically.

The danger is subtle. None of these desires are inherently wrong. We long for God. We want to feel His presence. But when we pursue that apart from His appointed means, we drift into error.

5. Biblical Warnings Against False Paths

Scripture repeatedly warns against seeking God through unauthorized means.

• Colossians 2:18–19: Paul warns against those who insist on visions and ascetic practices, saying such people are “puffed up without reason” and not holding fast to Christ.

• Deuteronomy 12:32: God commands Israel not to add to or take from His Word in worship.

• Jeremiah 23:16–18: False prophets followed the “visions of their own minds” rather than God’s Word.

Mysticism often falls under this category. It emphasizes visions, experiences, or methods not commanded by God. The result is a turning inward, toward the self, rather than upward, toward Christ.

6. Historical Lessons: Christian Mystics and Their Errors

The history of Christian mysticism is complex. Figures like Teresa of Ávila or John of the Cross spoke movingly of longing for God. Some of their writings contain insights into devotion. Yet their frameworks often blurred the line between biblical faith and speculative experience.

The Reformers critiqued these tendencies, insisting that Scripture and faith alone give us access to God. Martin Luther, once drawn into mystical paths, realized that assurance does not come through inner experience but through the external Word of promise. John Calvin warned against those who sought “new revelations” apart from Scripture.

History teaches us that while mysticism may express genuine longing, when untethered from the Word it leads to confusion and even deception.

7. The Danger of Subjectivism

Mysticism makes subjective experience the measure of truth. If I feel God’s presence, then I am close to Him. If I do not, then He must be distant. This is dangerous, because Scripture insists that God’s nearness is grounded in His promise, not our perception.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). That is true whether or not we feel it. Faith clings to God’s Word even when experience is barren. The mystic chases experiences, but the Christian clings to Christ by faith.

8. What True Communion with God Looks Like

Does this mean experience has no place? By no means. The Christian life is rich with joy, love, and at times profound awareness of God’s presence. The psalms are full of it. But these experiences flow from truth.

True communion with God means:

• Delighting in His Word: “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97).

• Walking by the Spirit: Living in daily dependence, bearing the fruit of love, joy, and peace (Galatians 5:22–25).

• Worshiping with His people: Experiencing His presence in the gathered body (Psalm 22:3).

• Waiting by faith: Sometimes experiencing absence, yet trusting His promise (Psalm 13).

Communion is relational, covenantal, and Word-centered. Mysticism substitutes a technique for a relationship.

9. A Better Way: Pursuing God Biblically

If mysticism cannot bring us closer to God, what can? The answer is both simple and profound: Christ Himself, by His Spirit, through His appointed means.

• Read Scripture daily, not as information but as communion.

• Pray honestly, not with mantras but with childlike dependence.

• Partake of the sacraments in faith, receiving Christ’s promises.

• Live in community, exhorting and encouraging one another.

• Fix your eyes on Christ crucified and risen, the only Mediator.

The Spirit uses these means to draw us into deeper fellowship with the Father through the Son. This is the biblical path to intimacy.

10. The Pastoral Heart: Longing for God Without Mysticism

Pastorally, it is important to recognize the ache behind mysticism. Many Christians pursue mystical practices not out of rebellion but out of hunger. They want God. They want to feel His nearness. Instead of dismissing that desire, we should affirm it and redirect it.

Like Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” The restlessness is real. The solution is not mystical techniques, but Christ Himself, known through His Word, Spirit, and people.

So, does mysticism make us closer to God? No. Only Christ brings us near. Mysticism promises shortcuts, but it cannot deliver. The gospel gives us something far greater: access to the Father through the Son by the Spirit.

The Christian life may at times feel dry. It may at times feel rich. But in all seasons, our nearness to God is secured in Christ, not in our experience. Let us, then, reject mystical substitutes and embrace the ordinary yet supernatural means God has given. Let us seek Him in His Word, in prayer, in His church, and above all in His Son. For in Christ we are not merely close to God. We are His beloved children.